Fair White Frogman

Thursday, April 02, 2015

Inside the Artist's Kitchen-- the Q&A

http://insidetheartistskitchen.com/blog/gwendolyn-zabicki-qa/

Gwendolyn Zabicki || Q&A

Artist: Gwendolyn Zabicki*

Show: Cool and Dark

1.) What kind of artist do you consider yourself?

I’m a painter.

2.) What drew you to Comfort Station, and what did you do with the space?

It’s such an unusual space, with odd walls and lots of windows. The space really did dictate where everything was hung. I showed there in July with Eleanor Ray and Greta Waller.

3) What artist from all of history would you like to invite to dinner, and what would you feed them?

I just watched Werner Herzog’s excellent Cave of Forgotten Dreams, so I think I would like to invite one of the Chauvet Cave painters who lived 32,000 years ago to dinner. We would eat steaks and scallops, maybe a nice salad.

4) What is your favorite food memory?

That’s a tough one. Going to Superdawg with my family is the obvious choice, but I think my favorite food memory would be the insane cakes my mom makes for my birthday. They have themes like “tea party lost at sea” and “pony smoking a cigarette while frying an egg.”

5) What piece of art do you secretly want to steal?

There are so many! I’d like to steal Self Portrait in a Wolf Fur Coat (1915) by Anders Zorn. I’d like to steal some of Amy Bennett’s paintings. They would be particularly easy to steal because they are so small. Slip them in your pocket, no one would notice! I’d like some Vija Celmins paintings, a few Lynette Yiadom Boakye portraits. Maybe I’ll go on a crime spree.

Self Portrait in a Wolf Fur Coat (1915) by Anders Zorn.

*Gwendolyn also works tirelessly to bring art to her community with the South Logan Arts Coalition.

Get the Recipe

Inside the Artist's Kitchen-- the recipe

I was interviewed for Inside the Artist's Kitchen. I made Manitaropita for them. It was fun!

http://insidetheartistskitchen.com/blog/manitaropita/

Manitaropita

Just finding your way to Gwendolyn’s house is an adventure in itself. We happened upon some helpful neighbors who pointed us in the right direction. Juuuust down this path. Yep really.

Kitchen plant.

‘Fruit bowl’

A glimpse of the dining room.

Salt & Pepper.

There is even a chef’s knife hand forged in Vermont.

Manitaropita

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Filling Step 1

24 oz Mushrooms
3 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
2 Tbsp Sugar

Filling step 2

2 Bunches of Green onions
2 Garlic cloves
1 Bunch of Parsley

Filling step 3

2 eggs
Lots of grated cheese, Swiss
Salt
Pepper
1 Package Phyllo dough, Thawed

Instructions

1. Chop mushrooms and fry with olive oil, soy sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Chop ingredients and fry with olive oil.
3. Combine ingredients from steps 1 + 2 with eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper.
4. Assemble. Visual directions below.
5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Some visual directions:

Open the phyllo dough.

Cut phyllo dough squares into 3 even strips. Cover unused pieces with a wet paper towel. Take 1 strip and brush liberally with olive oil on both sides.

Place some filling at the top of the strip and fold the top right corner down to the left side to form a triangle. Pro tip: Fold it like the American Flag. Continue cross folding until the whole strip is used.

A Helpful diagram we found.

Bake. Serve. Eat.

Some art around the house:

New present painting

Gift painting almost finished

Gift painting with actual gift

studio visit-- Ann Toebbe

I visited the studio of Ann Toebbe the other day. Fabulous work! I could look at her collages for days.

She rents a basement apartment near her home and uses it as a studio, which winds up being cheaper and larger than most properties rented as art studios.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Guy Pène du Bois, The Confidence Man, c. 1919, Brooklyn Museum

Love this:

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Robert Doak paints

My magical paints from Robert Doak & Associates, Inc. have arrived! Sinopia, Aubergine, Rose Madder (GENUINE!), Flemish White, Flake and Mica (white), Venetian Red (GENUINE!), Ivory Black (GENUINE!), Transparent Purple Oxide, Terra Rosa (GENUINE!), Transparent Pink Grey (a favorite of mine), copal medium and cold pressed stand oil. ‪

Genuine colors are hard to find sometimes. In this case, Rose Madder genuine is a plant-based paint. Rose Madder is usually made with synthetic dyes because it is considered an unstable, or fugitive color. I think the real thing is more beautiful than the synthetic version and I like using the version that has been in use for centuries. From wikipedia: "Cloth dyed with madder root dye was found in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Corinth. It was included in the Talmud as well as mentioned in writings by Pliny the Elder, and other literary figures, as 'rubio', used in paintings by J. M. W. Turner, and as a color for ceramics."

Ivory Black is made from burned bones. It used to be made from actual burned ivory. The genuine pigment is still made in tiny quantities from Ivory harvested from animals that have died naturally.

Genuine Venetian Red comes from the quarry where Titian obtained his supplies!

And if you really want to be old fashioned, Terra Rosa (genuine), is made from natural iron oxide clays from Europe or the Middle East. This is the stuff cave painters were using 30,000 years ago!

Ethan Gill at Julius Caesar

You should all go see this if you live in Chicago. Ethan Gill's violent, strange, wonderful football paintings will be at Julius Caesar Gallery, 3311 W Carroll Ave, Chicago, until April 19, 2015.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Wall of Presents

The wall of presents and present paintings in my studio:

Sunday, March 01, 2015

1996 Happy Meal Boxes from the Middle East

Today I heard some great stories from Jerome Walker. He showed me some of his advertising work from the 60's through the 90's, including these McDonald's Happy Meal boxes he designed in 1996 for use in the Middle East.